Social KM in libraries

Last Thursday I gave a webinar for the University of Alberta on 'Social knowledge management - KM2.0 - for libraries'. I also talked about how we in the Public library of Vlissingen have integrated social tools into the library's (knowledge management) strategy.

Many people ask me: what is social KM in a library context? For me, social KM is not about the tools (they only faciliate your KM strategy), but it is about the people and the culture (an open, transparent culture). Social tools help you shape an open culture and help you to connect people in your organisation with each other and with your customers. Therefore social KM in the library of Vlissingen has two dimensions: an internal and an external one. The internal dimension focuses on internal knowlege management - for example knowledge sharing via a wiki - and the external one focuses on how to use social tools to share knowlege and information with your customers - for example through a library blog.

I end this blogpost by referring to a question one of the attendees of the webinar asked me. The question was: how do you convince managers1.0 on the usefulness of web2.0-tools. I answered her: Point your manager to the problems/issues/goals in/of the organisation and then explain how social tools can help you to solve them or achieve your goals.

Interested in finding out more? Visit Slideshare and take a look at my presentation.